At 6PM I left the 5th Station and started the climb up Fuji. There were many other hikers on the trail, including several larger groups with a leader at the front and an assistant  at the rear. Following the trail is very easy. It’s well signposted and there are plenty of people around. By 7PM it was dark, but I’d brought with me a great new LED Lenser headlamp and a spare flashlight. I’d also brought my full size tripod, the 645Z, and three lenses so my pack was a little on the heavy side. Hauling all my camera gear up the mountain did mean that I could get some interesting light painting shots on the climb. The sign above was lit with the flashlight, while the background had a 30 second exposure. The following shot was a three minute exposure as a group of hikers wound up the trail past me. The leader and assistant had the red LED stick and the green LED globe. The other hikers between them were using white LED headlamps. At 12.30 …